1 thing that may be missing in fully understanding GEO’s demands is this: police presence is not automatically “good.” That default has to be revisited. Like any other profession, the scope and practice, justification, given authorities, etc. have to be revisited regularly 1/n

Data presented by GEO yesterday showed that only 3% of calls DPSS responded to were “violent” in nature and involved a particular use of force. That means 97% of calls DPSS responds to involve no eminent physical threat. 2/n

So the overwhelming majority of calls campus police show up to ready to use a taser or gun do not need people who are taser-and-gun ready 3/n

Where and when was it learned that police are necessary? Provide safety? Safety for whom and what? May we recall that U-M had no campus police until it was **necessary** to repress anti-Vietnam war student protests 4/n

The most common crimes on UM’s campus/campus property are rape, stalking, burglary, fondling, liquor & drug use. All have clear social/psych, socio-cultural (esp. power), institutional dynamics & economic mechanisms NOT primarily resolvable by police presence or undertakings 5/n

I’m not going to turn this thread into a full anti-policing argument since so much of that work already exists...and well the evidence and studies point to the need to #DefundThePolice 6/n

U-M SOE’s @hfdavis is quoted in this relevant piece here: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/07/20/opinion/rein-campus-police/

If departments, units, centers, & programs across & around the Univ. are making cuts *and* simultaneously rethinking their existence, function, needs/benefit analytics, why not rethink the funding, need for, and role of police on campus? Why not?! 7/n https://www.aclu.org/news/criminal-law-reform/defunding-the-police-will-actually-make-us-safer/

w/ larger convos around policing, systemic & structural racism, COVID-19, & rethinking the role of educational institutions at this juncture, GEO is both strategic and methodical in putting intertwined issues under one umbrella called safety. 8/n

I may come back to this thread but I wanted to 1) emphasize that policing is not a neutral institution & certainly should not be defaulted as “good” & 2) see that GEO is critically situating U-M both by itself and as part of a larger society 9/n

Over the past several months I have been thinking about what R.G. Kelley says in Freedom Dreams. May we think about what to build and lean into the transformation. https://www.geo3550.org/join-us/contribute/